Once upon a time, there was a world where EVERYONE would have to buy one album just to hear one song. Then the technology got better and computers made everything easy. You can now listen to a song from an album without having to buy the album. A group of musical Robin Hoods came into play. They wanted to share music so that everyone could hear it and have it. But then a group of rich meddlers decided to make a company called RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). They wanted to “protect” artists’ money and music and believed that if we “peasants” wanted to hear music, we should buy it.

Although that is a VERY rough description of what’s going on right now, it pretty much tells the whole story about how the rich get richer and the poor… Well just don’t get much out of it.

Yeah sure, you can argue that the music artists make is “THEIR” work and they worked hard for it. Or you can also say that artists are workers like you and I trying to make a living and feed their families. But consider this, how many Usher’s, Lil Jon’s, Michael Jackson’s have filed for bankruptcy or said they don’t have money so they live in a 1st floor apartment paying $31 per month?

Artists make, what would take me a lifetime to earn in sweat and blood, in one concert about a million dollars, depending how famous that artist is. And for those known/unknown artists that aren’t that famous, they make about a thousand to ten thousand dollars per concert. PSH! I wish I could make that money working at a Mexican restaurant.

The RIAA really is just a joke. They say that they fight for the rights and protect songs made by artists. But my neighbor sings and makes his own songs, are his protected to?

In the the end, RIAA wanted Limewire to pay $1.5 trillion (that’s $750 per copyright infringement multiplied by 200 million “estimated” occurrences of copyright infringement). Morons.

*Photo courtesy by eHow.com*